Laundry Girl
by HumAlong
Summary: Based off the song 'Laundry Girl'. Slightly AU. Shikamaru's alone in a Laundromat when someone walks in.


Hello! This is my first completed song-fic in a few years (actually my first completed anything in a few years...) so it might be a little rough around the edges. I based it off the song 'Laundry Girl' by the band Ludo. If you haven't heard of them, they're fantastic, give them a listen - starting with this song!

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The constant whirring sound started to die down, and the obnoxious buzzing noise took its place, jolting Shikamaru from his dazed state. He had been reading a book as he waited for his clothes to wash but must've dozed off in the middle of it. After all, it was just after four in the morning; Shikamaru didn't care for the presence of other people as he waited for his clothes to wash in the Laundromat, and since he had been up late doing work anyway, he figured he might as well get it done when he knew no one would be around. Especially since he was down to his last two pairs of clean boxers back at his apartment.

He got up from the table he had been seated at, and strolled across the Laundromat to empty the washer of his clothes. The AC must've been busted or something, because with the wave of humidity that had hit their town recently, it was stifling hot in the building. And it was surely going to get hotter once he started up the dryer. It just made him more thankful that he was the only one there that would be running a dryer.

He finished loading up the dryer, and reached into his pocket only to find that there were no coins left. The only thing left was what he realized was a crumpled up $5 bill. He cursed to himself as he looked around for a change machine. It was then that he heard the door open, allowing a little bit of a warm breeze to float in. He looked behind him and saw a girl come in with her own basket of laundry. It was then also that he saw the change machine right by the door. He headed straight for the machine, passing by the girl with only a brief glance, then stood before the change machine. Unfortunately, like most machines similar to the one before him, this one was only going to give him quarters. He just needed four. Carrying twenty quarters would just be too…troublesome. Behind him, he could hear the girl loading up her own laundry, and considered the alternative.

"Excuse me," he turned around and saw the girl stop what she was doing and look up at him with the brightest green eyes he had ever seen. "I was wondering, I need some quarters for just one round in the dryer, and all I have right now is a five, so I was just gonna ask…" he trailed off as the girl continued staring at him; why was her gaze so blank and bright at the same time? It was throwing him off, but for reasons he couldn't explain. She seemed to understand what he was getting at, though.

"You just need a dollar's worth of quarters instead of getting twenty of them," she clarified, giving a slight nod toward the machine.

"Yeah," Shikamaru said, nodding. "Do you happen to have enough on you?"

"I think I do," she reached for her back pocket, pulling out a small wallet. After digging through it for some time, she produced four ones as well as four quarters. "That what you needed?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I needed, thanks," he exchanged her offer with his own five dollar bill and started for his dryer. After starting up the machine, he sat back at the table he had fallen asleep at, only to realize that directly across the Laundromat the girl had taken up the other table, and was facing him dead-on. Pretending not to be distracted by this, Shikamaru buried his face into his book, pretending to read.

"What are you reading over there?" the girl called to him. Shikamaru looked up and stared at her blankly. Was she really trying to make conversation? Seems like no matter what time it is, he couldn't even wash his clothes in peace. However, he didn't want to be rude, so he decided to answer the simple question.

"_Lord of the Flies_," he responded.

"Oh, I haven't read that," the girl said solemnly, as if she were depressed about it. "Well, have you read _A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_? I just finished it last week and it was awesome."

"No, I haven't," Shikamaru said, shutting his book; clearly he wasn't going to get a chance to continue reading. But he realized that he didn't mind; something about her was intriguing, whether it was her bright vivacious eyes, her airy voice, or her gestures that matched her voice in such a way that he was far more entertained by her than the book he was reading.

Let's face it: if he had been alone reading he would've just fallen asleep again, unable to finish it. Either way, he wouldn't be reading the book.

"Well, you definitely should," the girl said. "After you finish reading _Lord of the Flies_ that should be your next book to read."

"Yeah, sure, whatever you say."

"And it's a lot better than the movie, if you've actually seen it."

"No, I haven't. But isn't that usually the case anyway?"

"I guess so," she shrugged. "But I have seen a few movies that could give their book counterparts a run for their money."

"Yeah, such as?"

And so she went on her spiel about which movies were just as fantastic as the books, which led to them having a small argument over some of her choices. Soon they were comparing actors and actresses and jabbing at some of their abilities ("If Charlie Sheen got fired from a show like _Two and a Half Men_ then you know something's wrong with him.") to how in the world some of the movies that came out could even exist ("It was the lamest, stupidest plot ever; what's next, pirates and ninjas? Actually that might not be bad.").

At some point Shikamaru got up to check on his laundry as she went to transfer hers into the dryer. After opening the dryer he turned slowly toward her and asked feebly, "Do you have any more quarters? I need to run another cycle."

"Yeah, sure," she started up her dryer and walked over to him to exchange money, and she glanced at his load. "Geez, got enough clothes in there? No wonder you need to run the dryer again. When did you last do laundry?"

Shikamaru's eyes rolled upward as he scrunched his forehead to think. "Uh…maybe like a month and a half?"

"Geez, you must have a lot of underwear. Or…never mind," she shook her head rapidly to get the disgusting thought of reusing dirty underwear out of her mind. To further distract herself she changed the subject, "So, since we've completely exhausted the topic of movies, why don't we go back to talking about books?"

It wasn't long before her laundry as well as his were both dried. They piled their respective loads into their baskets and headed out to the humid street; the sun was barely peeking through dark clouds that suggested it was going to rain. Nearby, there were a couple joggers taking advantage of the clear morning as well as the relatively empty sidewalks while they still had the chance.

"I can't wait to get home; I'm gonna start up an episode of _The Kids in the Hall, _fold my laundry, and then I'm taking a nice nap."

"After watching _what_?" Shikamaru inquired, not sure if he heard right.

"_The Kids in the Hall_. Have you not heard of it?"

"I have, but why that show?"

"Cuz it's the greatest ever!" she declared enthusiastically.

"Are you serious?!" Shikamaru couldn't help but laugh. "That show hasn't aired in forever!"

"That doesn't make it any worse!" she defended as she spun around to block his path.

"That's not what I was getting at, just stating an observation," Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, slightly amused at her scowl that had formed on her face.

"Well good," she said, refusing to let up her expression, "you shouldn't bash something just cuz it's no longer part of the current culture."

"I didn't intend to do that, I was just surprised because it's…different. But that's good." As he said this, he saw her scowl soften, and then he thought, _You're different. But that's good too_.

And then the unexpected happened.

He saw her take a step forward, and with her free hand that wasn't holding her laundry basket against her waist, she grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards her, her lips intensely meeting his.

He was shocked, to say the least; one minute he was trying to defend himself in hopes that they wouldn't get into an argument over something as trifling as a TV show, the next he found himself in a lip-lock with her. His mind raced; who _was_ this girl? He realized he didn't even know her name! He knew trivial things about her like her favorite book, her favorite movie (not based off her favorite book), but nothing especially significant.

But then, slowly, that didn't seem to matter. The fact of the matter was, he enjoyed talking with her, spending the small amount of time he had with her, and it was clear that she had felt the same way; who was he to start thinking about the rationality of the situation? So instead, he cleared his mind of all his thoughts, except the thought of how right this felt. He pulled her closer to him so that her body was right up against his and deepened the kiss, hoping this wouldn't end.

But of course, it did. She pulled away, and smiled in obvious amusement over his shocked face. He couldn't believe that had happened. Not only was it rare to meet a girl he didn't find troublesome, but to get that involved with her that quickly. The heat must've been getting to him, that was his only explanation for his actions. And maybe for hers as well; after all, he was the type of person who could predict a person's actions, but he definitely did not see that coming.

Nor did he see that she had apparently walked off. She was no longer in front of him, and when he turned around, the only living things he could see on the street were more joggers. She was gone. How did she go past him undetected? Was she…no, she was definitely a real person, a real, tangible person whom he had kissed and felt. He realized again that he didn't even get her name, adding to her enigmatic nature. It was like she didn't exist, like she was just part of a surreal dream he just woke up from.

Glancing around one last time, hoping that maybe she would appear in front of him again, he decided one thing about her: she was definitely different. But that was good.

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Disclaimer: This is a not-for-profit work solely for entertainment purposes. I claim no ownership except to the unnamed character and story itself and am not gaining anything except writing experience and critiques (maybe).


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